David Samuels (writer)
Encyclopedia
David Samuels is an American non-fiction
writer
, best-known for long-form journalism
and essay
s. He is a contributing editor
at Harper's Magazine
and a frequent contributor to The Atlantic and The New Yorker
.
; he received a B.A.
in History from Harvard College
in 1989, where he was an editor
of the Harvard Lampoon
. Samuels became a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities
at Princeton University
, where he received a Master's Degree
in history in 1993.
on rap music
in The New Republic
; the piece—which contended that the primary hip-hop audience consisted of white suburban teens—has been widely anthologized
. A later article he wrote on rap music for The New Yorker
was reprinted in the Best Music Writing of 2000 collection, edited by Peter Guralnick
. His work has also been anthologized in Best American Political Writing of 2004, Best American Science and Nature Writing of 2006, and other collections.
of the 1960s—a blend of first-person observation, minutely detailed reporting, and a careful, literary attention to language.
Samuels' pieces for Harper's
are often panoramic takes on a single events, including the demolition of the Sands Hotel and Casino
in Las Vegas, the riot at Woodstock 1999
, a Donald Rumsfeld
press conference at the Pentagon
, and Super Bowl XL
in Detroit. His features for The New Yorker and The Atlantic often focus on extreme subcultures and individuals with double identities.
His long profile of Yasir Arafat for The Atlantic in September 2005 was a finalist for the National Magazine Award
in reporting, and was named one of the three most important articles of the year by the columnist David Brooks
in The New York Times
.
After publishing a controversial cover story in The Atlantic's April, 2008 issue about the paparazzi
who trail Britney Spears
, Samuels appeared on NPR's On the Media
, and offered an apology for having hurt the feelings of those subscribers who objected to finding Spears on the cover of the venerable magazine. "Yes, I want to take full responsibility for destroying The Atlantic, 150 year-old pillar of American journalism," he said. "And now it's gone, thanks to me."
In the April 12, 2010 issue of The New Yorker
, Samuels published a remarkable account of his contacts with the Pink Panthers
, a group of quasi-legendary jewel thieves from Serbia and Montenegro who have reportedly stolen watches and jewels worth an estimated $250 million. The article, entitled "The Pink Panthers," was an idiosyncratic travelogue that detailed the group's cinematic robberies against the backdrop of recent Balkan history in a way that was part Hollywood and part Rebecca West
.
The style of the Panthers piece earned Samuels a rebuke from Pietry Calcaterra – the chief of Interpol's Pink Panthers unit – who wrote a letter of complaint to the New Yorker stating that "The victim is not the man wielding the gun, however colourful his alleged derring-do. The victim in an armed robbery is the person lying on a shop floor with a gun pointed at his head."
, in The New Yorker. In August 2009, Only Love Can Break Your Heart was issued in paperback.
, Mr. Samuels has written some of the best long-form literary journalism of the past decade." In a long review essay in The Nation
, the critic John Palattella wrote that Samuels' achievement was "staggering" and compared his work favorably to that of Didion and Tom Wolfe: "Like Didion, Samuels investigates the vortex of American life, a feeling of weightlessness and existential drift that can swallow people whole, but he reports on it in an entirely different manner."
Reviewing The Runner for The New York Times
, Keith Gessen wrote "Samuels is an elite narrative journalist, a master at teasing out the social and moral implications of the smallest small talk." Writing separately in the same publication about Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Jascha Hoffman described the collection as "a tribute to the twin American traditions of self-invention and self-deceit" and the author as "a brilliant reporter who has made a career of observing 'our national gift for self-delusion and for making ourselves up from scratch.'" In The Los Angeles Times, critic Richard Rayner cited the author's "wonderful feeling for the weirdness and truths of self-contained worlds"; he continued, "the writing is Joseph Mitchell-meets-Elmore Leonard, and a whole subculture comes to life...Samuels is heir to an American tradition."
James Hannaham wrote in The Village Voice
that Samuels "has nearly autistic command of minor details and facts" and "achieves the glorious breadth and detail of a mural painter." Contrary to most critics, Hannahan preferred Samuels' book The Runner
to his collected journalism in Only Love Can Break Your Heart
, calling the book "terse, passionate and complicated," while criticizing Samuels' political writing for "a creepy lack of bias."
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, best-known for long-form journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s. He is a contributing editor
Contributing editor
A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. The contributing editor regularly contributes articles to the publication but does not actually edit articles, and the title...
at Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
and a frequent contributor to The Atlantic and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Background and education
Samuels grew up in Brooklyn, New YorkBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; he received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in History from Harvard College
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1989, where he was an editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
of the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
. Samuels became a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities
Paul Mellon
Paul Mellon KBE was an American philanthropist, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame...
at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, where he received a Master's Degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in history in 1993.
Early years
Samuels' first article to receive much public attention was a controversial 1991 cover storyCover story
Cover story may refer to:* a story in a magazine whose subject matter appears on its front cover* a fictitious account that is intended to hide one's real motive, e.g. when a terrorist pretends to be farmer to buy fertilizer or to provide an explanation in case it is found; the story in the case of...
on rap music
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
in The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
; the piece—which contended that the primary hip-hop audience consisted of white suburban teens—has been widely anthologized
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
. A later article he wrote on rap music for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
was reprinted in the Best Music Writing of 2000 collection, edited by Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, writer on music, and historian of US American popular music, who is also active as an author and screenwriter. He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra...
. His work has also been anthologized in Best American Political Writing of 2004, Best American Science and Nature Writing of 2006, and other collections.
Magazines
Samuels has been a Contributing Editor at Harper's Magazine since 1996 and has written over a dozen long features for The New Yorker. Several of his stories have also been featured on the cover of The Atlantic. His work hearkens back to the New JournalismNew Journalism
New Journalism was a style of 1960s and 1970s news writing and journalism which used literary techniques deemed unconventional at the time. The term was codified with its current meaning by Tom Wolfe in a 1973 collection of journalism articles he published as The New Journalism, which included...
of the 1960s—a blend of first-person observation, minutely detailed reporting, and a careful, literary attention to language.
Samuels' pieces for Harper's
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
are often panoramic takes on a single events, including the demolition of the Sands Hotel and Casino
Sands Hotel
The Sands Hotel was a historic Las Vegas Strip hotel/casino that operated from December 15, 1952 to June 30, 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, the Sands was the seventh resort that opened on the Strip....
in Las Vegas, the riot at Woodstock 1999
Woodstock 1999
Woodstock 1999, also called Woodstock 99, performed July 22–25, 1999, was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original Woodstock Festival of 1969. Like the previous Woodstock festivals it was performed in upstate New York, this time in Rome, New York, around 200...
, a Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
press conference at the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
, and Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League champion for the 2005 season...
in Detroit. His features for The New Yorker and The Atlantic often focus on extreme subcultures and individuals with double identities.
His long profile of Yasir Arafat for The Atlantic in September 2005 was a finalist for the National Magazine Award
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards are a series of US awards that honor excellence in the magazine industry. They are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City...
in reporting, and was named one of the three most important articles of the year by the columnist David Brooks
David Brooks (journalist)
David Brooks is a Canadian-born political and cultural commentator who considers himself a moderate and writes for the New York Times...
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
After publishing a controversial cover story in The Atlantic's April, 2008 issue about the paparazzi
Paparazzi
Paparazzi is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people...
who trail Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, Samuels appeared on NPR's On the Media
On the Media
On the Media is an hour-long weekly radio program, hosted by Bob Garfield and Brooke Gladstone, covering journalism, technology, and First Amendment issues. It is produced by WNYC in New York City...
, and offered an apology for having hurt the feelings of those subscribers who objected to finding Spears on the cover of the venerable magazine. "Yes, I want to take full responsibility for destroying The Atlantic, 150 year-old pillar of American journalism," he said. "And now it's gone, thanks to me."
In the April 12, 2010 issue of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Samuels published a remarkable account of his contacts with the Pink Panthers
Pink Panthers
Pink Panthers is the name given by Interpol to an international jewel thief network, named after The Pink Panther series of crime comedy films, which is responsible for some of the most audacious thefts in criminal history. They are responsible for what have been termed some of the most glamorous...
, a group of quasi-legendary jewel thieves from Serbia and Montenegro who have reportedly stolen watches and jewels worth an estimated $250 million. The article, entitled "The Pink Panthers," was an idiosyncratic travelogue that detailed the group's cinematic robberies against the backdrop of recent Balkan history in a way that was part Hollywood and part Rebecca West
Rebecca West
Cicely Isabel Fairfield , known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public...
.
The style of the Panthers piece earned Samuels a rebuke from Pietry Calcaterra – the chief of Interpol's Pink Panthers unit – who wrote a letter of complaint to the New Yorker stating that "The victim is not the man wielding the gun, however colourful his alleged derring-do. The victim in an armed robbery is the person lying on a shop floor with a gun pointed at his head."
Books
In the spring of 2008, Samuels published Only Love Can Break Your Heart—a collection of his journalism—along with The Runner: A True Account of the Amazing Lies and Fantastical Adventures of the Ivy League Impostor James Hogue. The latter was based on his 2001 profile of the university confidence man James HogueJames Hogue
James Arthur Hogue is a US impostor who most famously entered Princeton University by posing as a self-taught orphan.-Early life:...
, in The New Yorker. In August 2009, Only Love Can Break Your Heart was issued in paperback.
Style
In The New York Observer, critic Matt Haber called Samuels "a master of the new old journalism." In the same publication, critic Michael Washburn described Samuels' work in The Runner and Only Love as "thrilling"; "With an intelligence and unsparing lucidity reminiscent of Joan DidionJoan Didion
Joan Didion is an American author best known for her novels and her literary journalism. Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation...
, Mr. Samuels has written some of the best long-form literary journalism of the past decade." In a long review essay in The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, the critic John Palattella wrote that Samuels' achievement was "staggering" and compared his work favorably to that of Didion and Tom Wolfe: "Like Didion, Samuels investigates the vortex of American life, a feeling of weightlessness and existential drift that can swallow people whole, but he reports on it in an entirely different manner."
Reviewing The Runner for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Keith Gessen wrote "Samuels is an elite narrative journalist, a master at teasing out the social and moral implications of the smallest small talk." Writing separately in the same publication about Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Jascha Hoffman described the collection as "a tribute to the twin American traditions of self-invention and self-deceit" and the author as "a brilliant reporter who has made a career of observing 'our national gift for self-delusion and for making ourselves up from scratch.'" In The Los Angeles Times, critic Richard Rayner cited the author's "wonderful feeling for the weirdness and truths of self-contained worlds"; he continued, "the writing is Joseph Mitchell-meets-Elmore Leonard, and a whole subculture comes to life...Samuels is heir to an American tradition."
James Hannaham wrote in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
that Samuels "has nearly autistic command of minor details and facts" and "achieves the glorious breadth and detail of a mural painter." Contrary to most critics, Hannahan preferred Samuels' book The Runner
The Runner
The Runner is a 1985 film by Amir Naderi, one of the major directors of Iranian cinema before and after the Iranian Revolution....
to his collected journalism in Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is a song written by Neil Young.-Genesis and recording:The song is the third track on Neil Young's album After the Gold Rush. The song was supposedly written for Graham Nash after Nash's split from Joni Mitchell, though Young in interviews has been somewhat...
, calling the book "terse, passionate and complicated," while criticizing Samuels' political writing for "a creepy lack of bias."
Books
- Only Love Can Break Your Heart (2008)
- The Runner: A True Account of the Amazing Lies and Fantastical Adventures of the Ivy League Impostor James Hogue (2008)
Anthologies
- The Best American Music Writing, 2000
- The Best American Political Writing, 2004
- The Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2006
External links
- David Samuels, New York Observer Profile
- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080714/palattella
- http://harpers.org/subjects/DavidSamuels/WriterOf/Article
- http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/by/david_samuels
- http://www.newyorker.com/search/query?query=%22David%20Samuels%22&sort=publishDate%20desc,%20score%20desc&queryType=nonparsed
- http://select.nytimes.com/2005/12/29/opinion/29brooks.html
- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4809042
- http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2007/07/04
- http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/03/14/05
- http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/04/express/just-another-american-dreamer
- http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/67663,news-comment,news-politics,hunt-continues-for-pink-panther-jewel-thieves-interpol-heist#ixzz0yFlsWg4i